Interactive television program guide with selectable languages

ABSTRACT

An interactive television program guide is provided. The interactive television program guide provides a user with the opportunity to select a language for playing television programming and displaying program guide text. Television program audio in the desired language may be obtained from a SAP or digital audio track and played in the selected language. Television related information in the desired language may be obtained from a digital track. If television program audio or related information is not provided in the selected language, the program guide may use a default language. The program guide may coordinate program guide display screen text with languages available for television programs when the programs are broadcast to users.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/353,394 filed on Feb. 13, 2006 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,527 which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/354,602 filed onJul. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,360 and which claims the benefitof U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/110,262, filed on Nov. 30, 1998.The contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to interactive television program guide systems,and more particularly, to interactive television program guide systemsin which users may select a desired language for playing televisionprogramming and displaying program guide display screen text.

Cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems provide viewers witha large number of television channels. Users have traditionallyconsulted printed television program schedules to determine the programsbeing broadcast at a particular time. More recently, interactivetelevision program guides have been developed that allow televisionprogram information to be displayed on a user's television.

Interactive television program guides allow the user to navigate throughtelevision program listings using a remote control. In a typical programguide, various groups of television program listings are displayed inpredefined or user-defined categories. Listings are typically displayedin a list, grid, or table. Interactive television program guides aretypically implemented on set-top boxes located in the homes of users. Atypical set-top box is connected to the user's television andvideocassette recorder. Program guides that run on personal computers orthat allow program guide information to be obtained using the Internetare also available.

Current television programming service providers typically providetelevision programing to customers that may live across a widegeographical area. It is not uncommon for a television programmingservice provider to provide television programming to a number ofviewers who may not speak the same language, or who prefer speaking in alanguage different from the primary language of the geographical area inwhich the viewers live.

Some current interactive television program guides provide users withthe ability to select languages for television programming from digitalaudio tracks on a digital channel. These interactive television programguides provide the user with the opportunity to select a language. Theinteractive program guide informs firmware in the user's set-top box ofthe selected language. A digital component selector in the set-top boxthen instructs a packet filter to filter out unwanted digital audiotracks based on unique packet identifiers (“PIDs”) that identify each ofthe tracks. The audio track with the PID that corresponds to theselected language is played by the set-top box on the user's television.

Current program guides do not provide for activation and deactivation ofa secondary audio program (SAP) based on the language of the audiocarried on the SAP. Current program guides also do not allow user todesignate a single language for both displaying program guide displayscreen text (e.g., help text, program listings grid text, button labels,etc.), and for playing audio.

It would therefore be desirable to provide an interactive televisionprogram guide that allows a user to select a language for playing analogprogram audio and for displaying program guide display screen text. Itwould also be desirable to provide a program guide that allows a user toselect a language in which both audio is played and program guide textis displayed. It would also be desirable to coordinate the language inwhich program guide display screen text is displayed with languages thatare available to the user for playing television programming. Forexample, it would be desirable to have television program listings for aparticular program displayed in a user selected language if the program,when actually broadcasted, has audio available in the selected language.Otherwise, the program listing for that program may be displayed and theprogram played in a default language.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aninteractive television program guide system that allows a user to selecta language in which both programming audio is played and program guidedisplay screen text is displayed.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an interactivetelevision program guide that allows a user to select languages forplaying television program audio provided on analog tracks.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an interactivetelevision program guide that coordinates the language in which programguide display screen text is displayed with languages available fortelevision programming when the television programming is broadcasted.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an interactivetelevision program guide system in which program guide display screentext in a selected language is downloadable by the program guide.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished inaccordance with the principles of the present invention by providing aninteractive television program guide system having a main facility(e.g., a satellite uplink facility) that provides program guide datafrom a data source to a number of television distribution facilities(e.g., cable system headends, broadcast distribution facilities,satellite television distribution facilities, or any other suitabletelevision distribution facilities). The program guide data transmittedby the main facility to the television distribution facilities includestelevision programming data (e.g., titles, channels, descriptions andcontent information, rating information, or any other informationassociated with television programming), and additional data forservices other than television program listings. (e.g., help text,weather information, sports information, associated Internet web links,etc.). The television distribution facilities distribute the programguide data to the interactive television program guides of a number ofusers.

The interactive television program guide of the present invention isimplemented on interactive program guide equipment that may include usertelevision equipment (e.g., a set-top box and television combination)located at the user's home. The interactive program guide equipment mayalso include program guide distribution equipment located at atelevision distribution facility.

Program guide display screens may be used to provide a user with theopportunity to select the language in which television programming isplayed by the user's television equipment and in which program guidedisplay screen text is displayed using the interactive televisionprogram guide. Displaying program guide display screen text in aselected language may also include displaying text in a date format,time format, currency format, parental rating format or other formatparticular to a selected language or country that uses a selectedlanguage. The interactive television program guide may store a languageattribute identifying the selected language. A default program guidelanguage attribute may also be stored by the program guide. The defaultprogram guide language attribute may, for example, be preprogrammed intothe program guide or supplied as program guide data. Default programlanguages for individual programs may also be supplied as program guidedata.

The program guide may also provide users with an opportunity to selectan alternate language in which program guide display screen text isdisplayed and programming audio played. For example, the user may selectSpanish as a primary language and English as an alternate language. Inanother suitable approach, the program guide may pick an alternatelanguage based on the primary language selected by the user. If the userselects Canadian English for the primary language, for example, theprogram guide may select U.S. English as an alternate language. As usedherein, “selected language” is intended to include a primary languageselected by the user, a secondary language selected by the user or theprogram guide, or any suitable combination thereof.

In practice, the languages available for playing programming audio maynot be the same as the languages available for displaying program guidedisplay screen text. When programming audio is not available in theselected language but program guide display screen text is, the programguide may play programming audio in a related language. For example, ifa user selects Canadian English as the user's primary language, theprogram guide may display program guide display screen text in CanadianEnglish and play programming audio in U.S. English when there is noCanadian English audio track available for the program.

The interactive program guide informs hardware in the user's televisionequipment of the selected language or languages. The user's televisionequipment plays television programs with audio from digital or analogaudio tracks that contain audio in the selected languages. If audio inthe primary or alternate language is not available on any provideddigital or analog audio track, the user television equipment plays thetelevision programs in the default program guide language or, ifapplicable, the default program languages. Data or other informationthat is provided, for example subtitles, may also be displayed in theselected language.

The interactive television program guide of the present invention mayprovide a user with the opportunity to request television programs suchas in, for example, a video-on-demand (VOD) system. The interactivetelevision program guide may inform equipment at the televisiondistribution facility of the primary, alternate and default languages(or any suitable combination thereof) when, for example, a request ismade by the program guide to the television distribution facility for aprogram. The television distribution facility may respond by providingthe requested television program to the user's television equipment withonly a single audio track containing audio in the selected language.Eliminating unnecessary audio tracks may lessen the bandwidthrequirements for transmitting programming signals from the televisiondistribution facility to a user's television equipment.

The interactive television program guide of the present invention mayalso provide program guide display screen text to the user in theselected language. As used herein, interactive program guide displayscreen text may include help text, program guide data text, programguide text, or any suitable combination thereof. Help text is displayedin response to the user selection of a help feature. Help text may bedownloaded as part of the program guide data provided by the mainfacility or may be part of the program guide.

Program guide data text is text included in the downloaded program guidedata and included in program guide display screens. Program guide datatext may include, for example, programming information (e.g., titles,channels, descriptions and content information, rating information, orany other text based information associated with televisionprogramming), text for advertisements, or any other suitable text-basedinformation.

Program guide text is text that is programmed into the program guide andthat is generally not provided as part of the program guide data.Program guide text may be downloaded when, for example, changinglanguages of the program guide. Program guide text may include, forexample, screen titles, screen element labels (e.g., button labels,program list labels, program grid labels, etc.), text that indicates orotherwise describes program guide functionality, or any other text thatmay be considered part of the program guide itself and displayed inprogram guide display screens.

The interactive program guide may filter help text and program guidedata text from the program guide data based on the language attributes.Help text and program guide data text in the selected and defaultprogram guide languages may be provided to the interactive televisionprogram guide by the television distribution facilities using anysuitable approach. The text may, for example, be provided continuouslyby the television distribution facilities in different languages andfiltered by the program guide, may be downloaded by the program guide onrequest (e.g., in a suitable client-server approach), or may be obtainedusing any other suitable approach.

Program guide text may be changed in any suitable fashion. Program guidetext for all available languages may, for example, be compressed usingany suitable compression method and stored as part of the program guideapplication. When a different language is selected by the user, theprogram guide may, for example, decompress the appropriate program guidetext and display it accordingly. Alternatively, the program guide may,for example, download program guide text on demand from the televisiondistribution facility (e.g., as in a suitable client-server approach)using the stored language attribute. Program guide text may also beprovided as part of a continuous data stream and filtered locally. Anysuitable combination of these methods may also be used. For example, theprogram guide may store program guide text in popular languages and maydownload program guide text when a less popular language is selected.For similar languages, (e.g., Canadian English and U.S. English), theprogram guide may download program guide text in one language as areference, and the differences in the second language. Making programguide text downloadable via a continuous data stream, periodic stream,server, or any other source, may allow a single version of the programguide to be distributed over a wide geographical area (e.g., nationally)and the language of the guide to be localized (e.g., apropos to thelanguages of local residents).

If desired, only portions of the program guide display screen text maybe changed by coordinating the language in which program guide displayscreen text is displayed with the languages available for televisionprogramming available to the user. For example, a particular program maynot have an audio data track for the selected language. The program maybe played and its associated program listings may be displayed, forexample, in a default program guide language or default programlanguage, while programs and associated program listings that have audioor data tracks with content in the selected language may be played anddisplayed in the selected language. The same may be true for subtitles,music information, programming information, other information includedin a digital track, or any other program guide data text or programguide text that may be played by the user's television equipment. Thesame may be true for television program audio. Programs, their audio,and any associated program data or programming guide data may berecorded in a selected or default language.

Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantageswill be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an illustrative system inaccordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b show illustrative arrangements for the interactiveprogram guide equipment of FIG. 1 in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative schematic block diagram of the user televisionequipment of FIGS. 2 a and 2 b in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic block diagram of portions of theillustrative user television equipment of FIG. 3 in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIGS. 5-11 are illustrative program guide display screens in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 12 shows an illustrative hierarchy that may be used by the programguide to determine the language in which program guide display screentext is displayed and audio played.

FIGS. 13-16 are flowcharts of illustrative steps involved in providingan interactive program guide with selectable languages in accordancewith the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An illustrative system 10 in accordance with the present invention isshown in FIG. 1. Main facility 12 provides program guide data fromprogram guide data source 14 to interactive program guide equipment 17via communications link 18. There are preferably numerous pieces orinstallations of interactive program guide equipment 17, although onlyone is shown in FIG. 1 to avoid over-complicating the drawing.

Link 18 may be a satellite link, a telephone network link, a cable orfiber optic link, a microwave link, an Internet link, a combination ofsuch links, or any other suitable communications link. If it is desiredto transmit video signals over link 18 in addition to data signals, arelatively high bandwidth link such as a satellite link may generally bepreferred to a relatively low bandwidth link such as a telephone line.

The program guide data transmitted by main facility 12 to interactiveprogram guide equipment 17 may include television programming data(e.g., program times, channels, titles, and descriptions) and other datafor services other than television program listings (e.g., help text,pay-per-view information, weather information, sports information,associated Internet web links, etc.). The program guide data may becompressed if desired.

An interactive television program guide is implemented on interactiveprogram guide equipment 17. Two illustrative arrangements forinteractive program guide equipment 17 are shown in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b.Interactive program guide equipment 17 may include program guidedistribution equipment 21 located at television distribution facility16, and user television equipment 22.

The interactive television program guide may run totally on usertelevision equipment 22 as shown in FIG. 2 a, or may run partially onuser television equipment 22 and partially on program guide distributionequipment 17 using a suitable client-server or distributed processingapproach as shown in FIG. 2 b. Television distribution facility 16 maybe any suitable distribution facility (e.g., a cable system headend, abroadcast distribution facility, a satellite television distributionfacility, or any other suitable type of television distributionfacility). Television distribution facility 16 may have program guidedistribution equipment 21. Program guide distribution equipment 21 maydistribute program guide data that television distribution facility 16received from main facility 12 to multiple users via communicationspaths 20.

Program guide distribution equipment 21 of FIGS. 2 a and 2 b may be anyequipment suitable for providing program guide data to user televisionequipment 22. Program guide distribution equipment 21 may include, forexample, suitable transmission hardware for distributing program guidedata on a television channel sideband, in the vertical blanking intervalof a television channel, using an in-band digital channel, using anout-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmissiontechnique. Analog or digital video signals (e.g., television programs)may also be provided by program guide distribution equipment 21 to usertelevision equipment 22 over communications paths 20 on multipletelevision channels.

Communications path 20 preferably has sufficient bandwidth to allowtelevision distribution facility 16 to distribute television programmingto user television equipment 22. There are typically multiple pieces ofuser television equipment 22 and multiple associated communicationspaths 20, although only one piece of user television equipment 22 andcommunications path 20 are shown in FIGS. 2 a and 2 b to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. If desired, television programming may beprovided over separate communications paths (not shown).

FIG. 2 b shows an illustrative arrangement for interactive program guideequipment 17 in a client-server based or distributed interactive programguide system. As shown in FIG. 2 b, program guide distribution equipment21 may include program guide server 25. Program guide server 25 may beany suitable software, hardware, or combination thereof for providing aclient-server based program guide. Program guide server 25 may, forexample, generate requested program guide display screens as digitalframes and distribute the frames to user television equipment 22 fordisplay by an interactive program guide client implemented on usertelevision equipment 22. Program guide systems in which digital framesare distributed to users are described, for example, in Marshall et al.U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/330,501, filed Jun. 11, 1999, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.Alternatively, program guide server 25 may run a suitable databaseengine (e.g., SQL Server by Microsoft) and provide program guide data inresponse to queries generated by a program guide client implemented onuser television equipment 22. If desired, program guide server 25 may belocated at main facility 12 (not shown).

In still another embodiment, program guide distribution equipment 21 mayinclude suitable hardware (not shown) on which a first portion orversion of the interactive television program guide is implemented. Asecond portion or version of the program guide may be implemented onuser television equipment 22. The two versions or portions of theinteractive program guide may communicate using any suitablepeer-to-peer communications scheme (e.g., messaging, remote procedurecalls, etc.) and perform interactive program guide functionsdistributively between television distribution facility 16 and usertelevision equipment 22.

Television distribution facility 16 may supply programs to usertelevision equipment 22 in response to demands made by the user usinguser television equipment 22. Any suitable video-on-demand (VOD)approach may be used. Program guide server 25 may receive, along withvideo demands from user television equipment 22, identifiers thatidentify the selected language and the default program guide language ofthe interactive television program guide.

Program guide distribution equipment 21 of FIG. 2 b may include digitalcomponent selector 61 and analog audio selector 63. Digital componentselector 61 may be any hardware, software, or combination thereofsuitable for determining which digital audio, data, or other trackscontain audio, data, or other information in the language selected bythe user or, alternatively, in the default language of the interactiveprogram guide. Analog audio selector 63 may be any hardware, software,or combination thereof suitable for determining which analog audio trackcontains audio in the selected language or, alternatively, in thedefault program guide language.

Program guide distribution equipment 21 may distribute programs to usertelevision equipment 22 with only an analog audio track (if distributedon an analog channel), or with only digital audio, data, or otherinformation tracks (if distributed on a digital channel), that haveaudio, data, or other information in the selected or default languagesas determined by analog audio selector 63 or digital component selector61, respectively. Sending audio, data, or other information in only onelanguage requires less bandwidth than would sending the audio, data, orother information in multiple languages and having unwanted languagesfiltered at user television equipment 22. This approach is especiallyuseful in systems, such as VOD systems, where many users request videoover multiple communication paths 20.

Each user has user television equipment 22 for displaying, for example,television programming and program guide display screens using theinteractive television program guide. Program guide data may bedistributed by program guide distribution equipment 21 to usertelevision equipment 22 using any suitable scheme. For example, programguide data may be provided in a continuous stream, or may be transmittedperiodically at a suitable time interval (e.g., once per hour). Iftransmitted continuously, it may not be necessary to store the datalocally at user television equipment 22. Rather, user televisionequipment 22 may extract data. “on the fly” as it is needed. If desired,television distribution facility 16 may poll user television equipment22 periodically for certain information (e.g., pay program accountinformation or information regarding programs that have been purchasedand viewed using locally-generated authorization techniques). Programguide data provided by program guide server 25 may also be distributedto user television equipment 22 by program guide distribution equipment21. If desired, the program guide data may be compressed by mainfacility 12 or television distribution or facility 16, and uncompressedby the program guide.

For clarity, the present invention will be illustrated in connectionwith a system arrangement in which program guide data is distributedfrom a main facility to an interactive television program guideimplemented on user television equipment via a television distributionfacility. Other suitable systems involve arrangements in which data isdistributed to a program guide on user television equipment using othersuitable distribution schemes, such as schemes involving datatransmission over the Internet or the like. If desired, the interactivetelevision program guide application may be implemented using aclient-server architecture in which the primary processing power for theapplication is provided by a server located at, for example, thetelevision distribution facility or the main facility (e.g., programguide server 25), and user television equipment 22 acts as a clientprocessor, as in, for example, the system shown in FIG. 2 b. A suitabledistributed approach may also be used.

An illustrative arrangement for user television equipment 22 is shown inFIG. 3. User television equipment 22 of FIG. 3 receives video, audio anddata from television distribution facility 16 (FIG. 1) at input 26.During normal television viewing, tuner 51 of set-top box 28 tunes to adesired television channel based on inputs from the user on remotecontrol 40. The signal for that television channel is then provided atvideo output 30. The signal supplied at output 30 is typically either aradio-frequency (RF) signal on a predefined channel (e.g., channel 3 or4), or a analog demodulated video signal, but may also be a digitalsignal provided to television 36 on an appropriate digital bus (e.g., abus using the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)1394 standard, (not shown)). The video signal at output 30 is receivedby optional secondary storage device 32. Set-top box 28 may also havedigital component selector 53, packet filter 55, MPEG-2 decoder 57, andanalog audio selector 59 (or any suitable combination thereof) forobtaining digital or analog audio from the signal received at input 26.

Secondary storage device 32 can be any suitable type of analog ordigital program storage device or player (e.g., a videocassetterecorder, a digital versatile disc (DVD) player, etc.). Programrecording and other functions may be controlled by set-top box 28 usingcontrol path 34. If secondary storage device 32 is a videocassetterecorder, for example, a typical control path 34 involves the use of aninfrared transmitter coupled to the infrared receiver in thevideocassette recorder that normally accepts commands from a remotecontrol such as remote control 40. Remote control 40 may be used tocontrol set-top box 28, secondary storage device 32, and television 36.Programs and their associated audio may be stored in a selected ordefault language if desired.

The interactive television program guide may run on set-top box 28, ontelevision 36 (if television 36 has suitable processing circuitry andmemory), or on a suitable analog or digital receiver connected totelevision 36. The interactive television program guide may also runcooperatively on both television 36 and set-top box 28. Interactivetelevision application systems in which a cooperative interactivetelevision program guide application runs on multiple devices aredescribed, for example, in Ellis U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/186,598, filed Nov. 5, 1998, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

If desired, the user may record programs, associated program data,program guide data, or any suitable combination thereof in digital formon optional digital storage device 31. The programs, audio, associatedprogram data, or program guide data may be stored in a selected ordefault language. Digital storage device 31 may be a writable optical.storage device (such as a DVD player capable of handling recordable DVDdiscs), a magnetic storage device (such as a disk drive or digitaltape), or any other digital storage device. Interactive televisionprogram guide systems that have digital storage devices are described,for example, in Hassell et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/157,256, filed Sep. 17, 1998, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

Digital storage device 31 can be contained in set-top box 28 or it canbe an external device connected to set-top box 28 via an output port andappropriate interface. If necessary, processing circuitry in set-top box28 formats the received video, audio, and data signals into a digitalfile format. Preferably, the file format is an open file format such asthe Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) MPEG-2 standard. The resultingdata is streamed to digital storage device 31 via an appropriate bus(e.g., a bus using the Institute Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) 1394 standard), and is stored on digital storage device 31.

Television 36 receives video and audio signals from secondary storagedevice 32 via communications path 38. The signals on communications path38 may either be generated by secondary storage device 32 when playingback a prerecorded storage medium (e.g., a videocassette or a recordabledigital versatile disc), by digital storage device 31 when playing backa pre-recorded digital medium, may be passed through from set-top box28, may be provided directly to television 36 from set-top box 28 ifsecondary storage device 32 is not included in user television equipment22, or may be received directly by television 36. During normaltelevision viewing, the signals provided to television 36 correspond tothe desired channel to which the user has tuned with set-top box 28. Thesignals may also be provided to television 36 by set-top box 28 whenset-top box 28 is used to play back information stored on digitalstorage device 31.

A more generalized embodiment of user television equipment 22 of FIG. 3is shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, program guide data fromtelevision distribution facility 16 (FIG. 1) is received by controlcircuitry 42 of user television equipment 22. Control circuitry 42 mayinclude circuitry suitable for tuning to digital or analog televisionsignals as indicated by tuner 51. Control circuitry 42 may also includecircuitry suitable for selecting different audio tracks from digitalaudio television channels, as is indicated by digital component selector53, packet filter 55, and analog audio selector 59. Decoding circuitryfor generating digital video may also be included, as is indicated byMPEG-2 decoder 57. The functions of control circuitry 42 may be providedusing the set-top box arrangement of FIG. 3. Alternatively, thesefunctions may be integrated into an advanced television receiver,personal computer television (PC/TV), or any other suitable arrangement.If desired, a combination of such arrangements may be used.

User television equipment 22 may also have secondary storage device 47and digital storage device 49 for recording programming. Secondarystorage device 47 can be any suitable type of analog or digital programstorage device (e.g., a videocassette recorder, a digital versatile disc(DVD), etc.). Program recording and other functions may be controlled bycontrol circuitry 42. Digital storage device 49 can be, for example, awritable optical storage device (such as a DVD player capable ofhandling recordable DVD discs), a magnetic storage device (such as adisk drive or digital tape), or any other digital storage device. Ifdesired, programs may be recorded remotely at television distributionfacility 16 or some other facility, making secondary storage device 47and digital storage device 49 unnecessary. Systems in which programs areremotely recorded and played back are described, for example, in Elliset al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/332,244, filed Jun. 11, 1999,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.Programs, audio, associated program data, program guide data, or anysuitable combination thereof, may be recorded by secondary storagedevice 47, digital storage device 49, or a remote server in a selectedor default language if desired.

The user controls the operation of user television equipment 22 withuser interface 46. User interface 46 may be a pointing device, wirelessremote control, keyboard, touch-pad, voice recognition system, or anyother suitable user input device. To watch television, the userinstructs control circuitry 42 to display a desired television channelon display device 45. To access the functions of the program guide, theuser instructs the program guide implemented on interactive programguide equipment 17 to generate a main menu or other desired programguide display screen for display on display device 45.

When a user indicates a desire to access the interactive televisionprogram guide implemented on interactive program guide equipment 17(e.g., by using a “menu” key on remote control 40), the program guidegenerates an appropriate program guide display screen for display onmonitor 45. A main menu screen, for example, such as illustrative mainmenu screen 100 of FIG. 5, may be generated that provides the user withaccess to various program guide functions. Main menu screens may alsodisplay any suitable graphic or other display screen entity.

Illustrative main menu screen 100 of FIG. 5, for example, may includemenu 102 of selectable program guide features 106. If desired, theprogram guide features 106 may be organized according to feature type.Menu 102, for example, organizes program guide features 106 into threecolumns wherein the column labeled “TV GUIDE” is for listings relatedfeatures, the column labeled “MSO SHOWCASE” is for multiple systemoperator (MSO) related features, and the column labeled “VIEWER SERVICE”is for viewer related features. The interactive television program guidemay generate a suitable display screen for a particular program guidefeature in response to the user selection of any selectable programguide feature 106.

Main menu screen 100 may also include one or more selectableadvertisement graphics 108. Selectable advertisement graphics 108 may,for example, advertise pay-per-view programs. In response to the userselection of a selectable advertisement graphic 108, the program guidemay display information (e.g., pay-per-view information) for what isadvertised by the graphic. Pure text advertisements may be presentedusing selectable advertisement graphics 108 if desired, or may be moresuitably presented using selectable advertisement banner 110.

Main menu screen 100 may also include other graphics. The brand of theprogram guide product may be indicated, for example, using a productbrand logo graphic such as product brand logo graphic 112. The serviceprovider may be indicated, for example, using a service provider logographic such as service provider logo graphic 114. The current time maybe displayed using clock 116. In addition, a suitable indicator such asindicator graphic 118 may be used to indicate to the user that a messageis waiting for the user if the program guide provides messaging or aTV-Mail feature.

The interactive program guide may provide the user with the opportunityto view television program listings. A user may indicate a desire toview program listings by, for example, positioning highlight region 120over a desired program guide feature. Alternatively, the program guidemay present program listing in response to the user pressing a key(e.g., a “guide” key) on remote control 40. In response to the userindicating a desire to view television programming information, theprogram guide may generate an appropriate program listings screen fordisplay on monitor 45. A program listings screen may contain one or morelists of programs organized according to multiple organization criteriaand sorted in various ways.

The program listings screen may be overlaid over a program being viewedby the user or overlaid over a portion of the program in a “browse”mode. The program guide may, for example, provide the user with theopportunity to view listings by time, by channel, according to a numberof themes (e.g., movies, sports, children, etc.), or may allow the userto search for a listing by title. Program listings may be displayedusing any suitable list, table, grid, or other suitable displayconstruct. If desired, program listings display screens may also includeselectable advertisement graphics, selectable advertisement banners,product brand logo graphics, service provider brand graphics, clocks, orany other suitable indicator or graphic.

FIGS. 6 a and 6 b illustrate the display of program listings by time andby channel, respectively. The program listings display screens 130 and135 of FIGS. 5 a and 5 b may include highlight region 151, whichhighlights the current listing 150. The user may position highlightregion 151 by entering appropriate commands with user interface device52. For example, if user input interface device 52 has a keypad, theuser can position highlight region 151 using “up” and “down” keys.Alternatively, a touch sensitive screen, trackball, voice commands, orother suitable device may be used to move highlight region 151 or toselect program listings without the use of highlight region 151. Instill another approach, the user may speak a television program listinginto a voice request recognition system. Any other suitable approach maybe used.

The program guide may also provide the user with the opportunity to viewlistings for other times or channels. The user may indicate a desire toaccess listings for other times or channels by, for example, pressing“left” and “right” arrows on remote control 40 to change time slots(when listings are presented by time as shown in FIG. 6 a), or to changechannels (when listings are presented by channel as shown in FIG. 6 b).In response to such an indication, the program guide may displaylistings for a different time slot or channel. The user may alsoindicate a desire to see additional program listings for a particulartime slot (when listings are presented by time as shown in FIG. 6 a) orfor a particular channel (when listings are displayed by channel asshown in FIG. 6 b) by, for example, pressing “up” and “down” arrow keyson remote control 40. In response to such an indication, the programguide may, for example, scroll or page the program listings to displayadditional program listings.

After a user selects a program listing (e.g., by position highlightregion 151 and pressing an “OK” key on remote control 40), theinteractive program guide may provide the user with the opportunity toaccess a number of program guide functions associated with the listing.For example, the user may access additional information (typically textor graphics, but possibly video and other information) about thelisting, set a reminder, schedule an associated program for recording,set parental control features, set and navigate through favoritechannels, or any access other suitable program guide function.

FIG. 7 a shows an illustrative full information screen 161 that may bedisplayed when a user indicates a desire to view information for aprogram. Full information screen 161 may be displayed, for example, whenthe user presses an “info” key on remote control 40 after highlighting aprogram listing in a program listings display screen (e.g., programlistings display screens 130 and 135 of FIGS. 5 a and 5 b), whilewatching a program, or at any other suitable time. Information screensthat provide users with an opportunity to access various program guidefunctions are described, for example, in Rudnick et al. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/356,268, filed Jul. 16, 1999, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Full information screen 161 may include information window 162 in whicha brief description of a program may be displayed. Information window162 may also list the languages available for a program in response to auser indicating a desire to see such a list (e.g., by selecting languageoption 157). FIG. 7 b, for example, shows information window 162 withavailable languages for “Mad About You.”

Alternatively, the available languages may be displayed as part of aninformation window without requiring a user to indicate a desire toaccess them.

Users may be unfamiliar with some of the functions of the program guide.The interactive program guide may, for example, provide the user withthe opportunity to access help information for a function by, forexample, pressing a “help” key on remote control 40 while in the displayscreen of a particular function. FIG. 8 shows illustrative help displayscreen 200 that may be generated by the program guide in response to auser indication to do so. Help display screen 200 may contain selectableadvertisement graphics, advertisement banners, product brand logographics, service provider logo graphics, clocks, or any other suitableindicator or graphic. Help display screen 200 may also contain help textpanel 202 in which help text 205 is displayed. Help text panel 202 mayinclude other non-help text, such as text 204 that indicates to the userto press HELP to exit.

The program guide of the present invention may provide a user with theopportunity to select a language from a list of languages. The user may,for example, access a list of languages initially by indicating a desireto access a setup function of the program guide by selecting “SETUP”from main menu 102 of FIG. 5. In response to such an indication, theprogram guide may display a setup display screen, such as illustrativesetup display screen 300 of FIG. 9. The setup display screen of FIG. 9may, for example, provide a user with the opportunity to select a“language” setup option from a list of on-screen features.

In response to the user selection of the “language” setup option theprogram guide may display, for example, illustrative language setupdisplay screen 310 of FIG. 10. Language setup display screen 310 of FIG.10 may, for example, display a list of selectable languages that theprogram guide may use for playing television programming and displayingprogram guide display screen text. The language listings may bedisplayed in their respective languages if desired. The program guidemay provide the user with an opportunity to select a language and inresponse to such a selection, the program guide may display illustrativelanguage confirmation screen 320 shown in FIG. 11. Language confirmationscreen 320 of FIG. 11 may provide a user with an opportunity to confirmthe selected language. If desired, language confirmation screen 320 maybe displayed in the selected language before the language is set.

Illustrative language confirmation screen 320 of FIG. 11 indicates tousers that there may be a delay of a few minutes to update the guide.Whether or not there is any delay may depend on the chosen approach forproviding program guide display screen text in different languages. Themessage displayed in language confirmation screen 320 may be changedaccordingly.

Language setup display screen 310 of FIG. 10 and language confirmationscreen 320 of FIG. 11 may also be displayed by the program guide toprovide the user with an opportunity to select an alternate language.The program guide may display program guide display screen text and playaudio in the alternate language when text or audio in the primarylanguage (i.e., the language first selected by the user) is notavailable. In another suitable approach, the program guide may pick analternate language based on the primary language selected by the user.If the user selects Canadian English, for example, the program guide mayselect U.S. English as an alternate language. As used herein, “selectedlanguage” is intended to include a primary language selected by theuser, a secondary language selected by the user or the program guide, orany suitable combination thereof.

In practice, the languages available for playing programming audio maynot be the same as the languages available for displaying program guidedisplay screen text. When programming audio is not available in theselected language but program guide display screen text is, the programguide may play programming audio in a related language. For example, ifa user selects Canadian English as the user's primary language, theprogram guide may display program guide display screen text in CanadianEnglish and play programming audio in U.S. English when there is noCanadian English audio track available.

The program guide may store a language attribute identifying theselected language. The program guide may also store a default programguide language attribute identifying a default program guide language.The default program guide language attribute may, for example, bepreprogrammed into the program guide or supplied as part of the programguide data, and may be customized based on a user's location. Forexample, users in the United States may have their default program guidelanguage set to U.S. English, and users in Mexico may have their defaultprogram guide language set to Spanish.

Program guide display screen text may be displayed using the interactivetelevision program guide according to the language attributes. Ifprogram guide display screen text in the selected language is notavailable, text in the default program guide language may be used todisplay program guide display screen text in the default program guidelanguage. The display of program guide display screen text may includedisplaying times, dates, currencies, or parental ratings in formatsparticular to a selected language or country that uses a selectedlanguage. Program guide display screen text may include help text,program guide data text, and program guide text, or any suitablecombination thereof. Help text is displayed in response to the userselection of a help feature such as text 205 of FIG. 8. Help text may beprovided as part of the program guide data provided by the mainfacility, as part of the application, or using a suitable combination ofapproaches. Help text may, for example, be initially provided as part ofthe program guide and later downloaded when the user selects a language.

Program guide data text is text included in the program guide data thatis read by the program guide and included in program guide displayscreens. Program guide data text may include, for example, programminginformation (e.g., titles, channels, descriptions and contentinformation, rating information, or any other text based informationassociated with television programming), text for advertisements, or anyother suitable text based information. An example of program guide datatext may be the program listings of listings 150 shown in FIGS. 6 a and6 b, and the program information displayed on information window 162 ofFIG. 7 a.

Program guide text is text that is programmed into the program guide andthat is generally not provided as part of the program guide data.Program guide text may be downloaded, however, when the user changeslanguages. Program guide text may include, for example, screen titles,screen element labels (e.g., button labels, program list labels, programgrid labels, etc.), text that indicates or otherwise describes programguide functionality, or any other text that may be considered part ofthe program guide itself for display in program guide display screens.An example of program guide text may be the text of selectable features106 of main menu 102 (FIG. 5).

The interactive program guide may obtain program guide data containingtext that is in the selected or default program guide languages. In onesuitable approach, program guide help and data text may be providedcontinuously by television distribution facility 16 to user televisionequipment 22 in different languages and filtered by the interactiveprogram guide. The program guide may, for example, filter out data inthe data stream containing text that is not in a desired language (e.g.,undesirable help or program guide data text) by, for example, comparinga stored language attribute with language attributes contained in aprogram guide data stream. This comparison and filtering may also beperformed by suitable circuitry in control circuitry 42 withoutrequiring the program guide to do the comparison. In another suitableapproach, program guide data in the desired language (e.g., help textand programming video data text) may be downloaded by the program guideby a specific request (e.g., in a suitable client-server approach).

In still another suitable approach, the interactive program guide mayindicate the selected and default program guide languages to televisiondistribution facility 16 using any suitable approach. Televisiondistribution facility 16, in turn, may provide program guide data onlyin the indicated languages. In this approach, television distributionfacility 16 may have suitable memory and processing circuitry to storelanguage attributes for a large number of users. Alternatively, theprogram guide may indicate the selected and default languages with everyrequest.

Program guide text may be changed by the interactive program guide usingany suitable approach. Program guide text for all available languagesmay, for example, be compressed using any suitable compression method,and stored as part of the program guide application. When a user selectsa different language, the program guide may, for example, decompressprogram guide text in the selected language and display it accordingly.Alternatively, the program guide may, for example, download programguide text on demand from the television distribution facility (e.g., asin a suitable client-server approach), or download program guide textfrom a periodic or continuous data stream.

Television program audio may be provided to user television equipment 22by television distribution facility 16 on analog audio tracks of analogtelevision channels. Different audio tracks may be used to providedifferent languages for television program audio. One suitable analogapproach involves using a secondary audio program (“SAP”). SAP trackidentification may be provided to the interactive television programguide as part of the program guide data stream by main facility 12 ortelevision distribution facility 16. The program guide data stream may,for example, contain a SAP track map database that maps or defines theprimary and secondary language types of the SAP for a particularprogramming entity (e.g., by using a unique source identifier (“ID”) toidentify NBC, ABC, FOX, etc.), for each channel, or for each program.The SAP track map database may be generated by main facility 12 ortelevision distribution facility 16 and transmitted to user televisionequipment 22 using any suitable analog or digital in-band or out-of-bandapproach. The SAP track map database may be included in the programguide data if desired.

The SAP track map database may be stored by the interactive programguide, downloaded on demand, periodically, continuously or using anyother suitable approach. When necessary, the interactive program guidemay pass track identifiers to analog audio selector 59 (FIG. 4). Theprogram guide may, for example, pass track identifiers to analog audioselector 59 each time the user changes channels, each time a new programis broadcast, or after any other suitable event that may require analogaudio selector 59 to select a different audio track. Alternatively, theprogram guide may pass the SAP track map database and track identifiersto analog audio selector 59. Analog audio selector 59 may in turndynamically choose between the SAP audio tracks based on the languageidentifiers and the SAP map, without requiring activity by the programguide.

Television program audio, data, and other information may be provided touser television equipment 22 on digital tracks that are provided as partof digital television channels. A digital channel may include, forexample, a video track, a number of audio tracks, and a number of dataor other suitable text tracks (e.g., a subtitle track, digital musicinformation track (e.g., title, artist, and track information), etc.).If desired, data may be transmitted out-of-band and not included as anadditional track. Digital video, audio, and data are transmitted inpackets on the digital television channel. The packets also containpacket identifiers (“PIDs”) identifying the track that each packetbelongs to.

A PID map database may be provided by main facility 12 to televisiondistribution facility 16 as part of the program guide data.Alternatively, television distribution facility 16 may insert a PID mapdatabase into the program guide data that was generated by televisiondistribution facility 16 or another source. If desired, the PID mapdatabase may be distributed by television distribution facility 16 touser television equipment 22 separate from the program guide data. ThePID map database defines which languages correspond to the digitaltracks of the digital channels. The PID map database may define, forexample, which languages correspond to which tracks for each televisionprogram, for each channel, or for each television distribution facility16.

The interactive television program guide implemented on interactiveprogram guide equipment 17 may receive the PID map database. The PID mapdatabase may be used by the interactive program guide to determine whichaudio, data, or other track has audio, data, or other information in theselected, default program guide, and default program languages. This maybe determined, for example, each time the user changes the selectedlanguage, each time new television programming is broadcasted, each timethe channel is changed, in any suitable combination thereof, or afterany other event that may require selecting different digital tracks toobtain audio, data, or other information in the applicable languages.The PIDs for the tracks on which the selected or default language audio,data, or other information is provided are passed by the interactiveprogram guide to packet filter 55 located in user television equipment22. Packets without the passed IDs are filtered out by packet filter 55.The remaining packets, along with the digital video signal of thechannel, may be passed from tuner 51 to decoder 57 for decoding, and allare played for the user by user television equipment 22.

The PID map database may also be forwarded to digital component selector53. The interactive television program guide may pass the storedlanguage attributes to digital component selector each time the userselects a different language using the program guide. Digital componentselector 55 may in turn pass PIDs to the packet filter for audio, data,and other tracks that contain audio, data, and other information in theselected or default languages, based on the PID map. Packets without theindicated IDs are filtered out by packet filter. The remaining audio anddata packets, along with the digital video signal on the channel, may bepassed from tuner 51 to decoder 57 for decoding, and are all played forthe user by user television equipment 22. In this approach, theinteractive program guide may “sleep” and allow digital componentselector 53 to detect events which would require sending different PIDsto packet filter 55 (e.g., the user flipping a channel).

If desired, only portions of the program guide display screen text maychange by coordinating the language in which program guide displayscreen text is displayed with the languages available for televisionprogramming available to the user. A particular program may, forexample, not have an audio track (digital or analog) for a primaryselected language (e.g., U.S. English). The program may be played andits associated program listings and other information may be displayed,for example, in any other applicable language (e.g., an alternate, thedefault program language, or the default program guide language), whileprograms and associated program listings that have the desired audiotrack may be displayed in the primary selected language. The same may betrue for subtitles, music information, programming information, otherdata or information included in digital tracks, or any other programguide display screen text that is presented to the user by the programguide.

A particular program may not, for example, have an audio track in theselected language. When the user indicates to the interactive programguide a desire to access a program guide function that involves, forexample, displaying program guide data text (e.g., previewing programlistings, program information, ordering pay-per-view programs, etc.),the program guide determines if the program guide data text displayed aspart of the function includes television programming information (e.g.,titles, broadcast times, descriptions and content information, ratinginformation, etc.). As the program guide generates program guide displayscreens containing the television program information, the program guidedetermines if the television program associated with the televisionprogram information has audio, data, or other information in theselected language, based on the PID map database or the SAP mapdatabase. If so, the program guide displays program guide display screentext associated with the program in the selected language. If, however,the television program audio, data, or other information is notavailable in the selected language, the program guide may display theprogram guide display screen text in the default language.

In still another suitable approach, main facility 12 may provide programguide display screen text in those languages in which audio for relatedprogramming is available. If a program has audio in only one language,main facility 12 may only provide program guide display screen text inthat language. This may simplify the selection process that may takeplace at television distribution facility 12 when, for example, theprogram guide requests program guide data text.

One example of when the program guide may coordinate the language inwhich program guide display screen text is displayed with languagesavailable for television programming is when a user indicates a desireto view program listings. The program guide may also coordinatelanguages, for example, when a user indicates a desire to access otherprogram information, pay-per-view ordering information, or any otherinformation related to television programs.

An illustrative hierarchy of the language in which program guide displayscreen text is displayed and audio played is shown in FIG. 12.Preferably, the program guide uses the primary language selected by theuser. Program guide text and help text may normally be displayed in theprimary language unless, for example, the text cannot be downloaded bythe program guide after a user changes the primary language. If audio isnot available, it may be played in an alternate language selected eitherby the user or by the program guide. If program guide data text is notavailable in the primary selected language, the program guide may obtainprogram guide data text in an alternate language selected by the user orby the program guide. Program guide data text for particular programsmay be coordinated with the language in which audio will be playedaccording, for example, to the hierarchy of FIG. 12.

Programs may have default program languages. A default program languagemay be set by, for example, main facility 12 or television distributionfacility 16, and distributed to user television equipment 22 as part ofthe program guide data. If programming audio is not available in theprimary or alternate language, it may be played in the default programlanguage. Program guide data text for programs may be coordinatedaccordingly and displayed in the default program language. If none ofthe above languages are available, programming audio may be played andrelated program guide data text displayed in the default program guidelanguage.

FIGS. 13-16 are flowcharts of illustrative steps involved in providing aprogram guide with selectable languages in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention. The steps illustrated in theflowcharts are illustrative and may be performed in any suitable order.FIG. 13 shows illustrative steps involved in operating an interactivetelevision program guide system that provides a user with theopportunity to select languages in which program guide display screentext is displayed.

At step 400, the interactive program guide implemented on interactiveprogram guide equipment 17 may provide the user with the opportunity toselect a language. Step 400 may include substeps 405, 410, and 415 asshown. At substep 405, a setup screen, such as illustrative setupdisplay screen 300 of FIG. 8, may be provided to the user to provide theuser with the opportunity to access the language selection feature ofthe program guide. At substep 410, the program guide may provide theuser with a language setup display screen, such as illustrative languagesetup display screen 410 of FIG. 10, to provide the user with theopportunity to select a language from a list of languages. At substep415, the program guide may provide the user with the opportunity toconfirm the language selection by, for example, providing the user withlanguage confirmation screen 320 of FIG. 11. Step 400 may be repeated toprovide the user with an opportunity to select an alternate language.Alternately, the program guide may select an alternate languageaccording to the primary language (step 417).

The program guide may store language attributes for the selectedlanguages at step 420. A language attribute for the default programguide language may have been pre-programmed into the program guide, ormay also be stored at step 420 (e.g., by downloading it from a datastream or server). At step 430, the program guide may ready programguide display screen text for display in the selected or defaultlanguages. More specifically, help text, program guide data text, andprogram guide text may be readied by the program guide at steps 440,450, and 460, respectively.

Program guide display screen text may be readied by the program guideusing any suitable approach. In practice, however, the way in whichprogram guide display screen text is readied by the program guide maydepend on the type of text and how the text is provided to the programguide. Help text and program guide data text may, for example, becontinuously provided in multiple languages by television distributionfacility 16 to user television equipment 22. Alternatively, help textand program guide data text in different languages may be provided ondemand. In either of these approaches, the program guide may filter outunwanted help text or program guide data text at steps 442 and 452,respectively. Help text and program guide data text may also bedownloaded in only the selected, default program guide, or defaultprogram languages by the program guide, as indicated by steps 444 and454. In still another approach, the program guide may indicate theselected or default program guide language to television distributionfacility 16. Television distribution facility 16 may in turn providehelp text or program guide data text or any suitable combination ofthese approaches, continuously in the indicated language (steps 446 and456). Help text and program guide text may, for example, be storedinitially as part of the program guide and updated using a suitableclient-server based approach.

In still another suitable approach, main facility 12 may provide programguide data text in those languages in which audio for relatedprogramming is available. If a program has audio in only one language,main facility 12 may only provide program guide data text in thatlanguage. This may simplify the selection process that may take place attelevision distribution facility 12 when, for example, the program guiderequests program guide data text. Any other suitable approach forreadying help text or program guide data text or any suitablecombination of these approaches, may be used.

The program guide may ready program guide text at step 460. One suitableapproach may involve extracting program guide text in the selected ordefault program guide language that is normally stored by the programguide (step 462). Another suitable approach may involve downloadingprogram guide text from television distribution facility 16 on demand atstep 460 using, for example, any suitable client-server or peer-to-peerapproach (step 464). Any other suitable approach for readying programguide text may be used. At step 468, the display screen text may bedecompressed. Providing display screen text in compressed form may tendto minimize the bandwidth requirements of link and 20 and the memoryrequirements of user television equipment 22.

At step 470, the program guide displays the program guide display screentext in the selected, the default program guide, or the default programlanguage using user television equipment 22. Displaying program guidedisplay screen text in a selected language may also include displayingtext in a date format, time format, currency format, parental ratingformat or other format particular to a selected language or country thatuses a selected language.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in providinganalog audio on different analog audio tracks using the program guide ofthe present invention. Initially, the program guide may provide the userwith an opportunity to select a language in which the user would liketelevision program audio played by user television equipment 22. Thisopportunity may be provided to the user by the program guide at 400-415.At step 420, the program guide may store language attributes for theselected or default languages. Steps 400-420 were discussed with respectto FIG. 13 and for brevity will not be re-explained here.

An analog audio track is selected using the program guide (step 500). Atstep 502, the program guide may determine which analog track carriesaudio in a desirable language (e.g., the primary, alternate, defaultprogram guide, or default program language) using, for example, ananalog audio track map such as a SAP map. At step 510, the program guidemay pass an analog track identifier for the desired track to analogaudio selector 59 (FIG. 4). This step may occur with any suitablefrequency. The program guide may pass an analog track identifier toanalog audio selector 59, for example, each time the user changeschannels, each time a programming change occurs, or with any othersuitable frequency. At step 512, the identified audio track is selectedby analog audio selector 59. The selected audio track is played for theuser by user television equipment 22 at step 515.

It may be desirable, however, to select analog audio tracks withoutactivity from the program guide, as performed at step 505. This mayinvolve, for example, passing an analog track map and languageidentifiers for the selected and default languages to analog audioselector 59 using the program guide (step 507). Analog audio selector 59may determine which analog track is desirable based on the analog trackmap and the language identifiers. In a system in which SAP is used, forexample, only one language identifier need be included in the SAP mapsent to analog audio selector because there are only two availabletracks. If audio in the selected language is not available on theindicated track, then the other track may automatically be used.Alternatively, the SAP map may include the languages of both tracks.

At step 509, analog audio selector 59 selects the desirable analog audiotrack without any further activity by the program guide directed towardsselecting analog audio. Step 509 may be performed, for example, eachtime the user changes channels, each time programming changes on achannel, or with any other suitable frequency. Analog audio from theselected track is played by user television equipment 22 at step 515.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in providingdigital audio, data, or other information using the program guide of thepresent invention. Initially, the program guide may provide the userwith an opportunity to select a language. This opportunity may beprovided to the user by the program guide at steps 400-415. At step 417,the program guide may select an alternate language based on the primarylanguage. At step 420, the program guide may store language attributesfor the selected and default program guide languages. Steps 400-420 werediscussed with respect to FIG. 13 and for brevity will not bere-explained here.

A digital audio, data, or other information track is selected using theprogram guide at step 550. At step 552, the program guide determineswhich digital tracks carry audio, data, or other information in adesirable (the selected or default) language using, for example, a PIDmap. At step 555, PIDs for the desirable tracks may be passed to packetfilter 55 (FIG. 4) using the program guide. This step may be performedwith any suitable frequency. The program guide may pass PIDs to packetfilter 55, for example, each time the user changes channels, each time aprogramming change occurs, or with any other suitable frequency. At step557, packet filter 55 filters out unwanted packets and the contents ofthe selected tracks are played by user television equipment 22 at step560.

It may be desirable, however, to select digital tracks without activityfrom the program guide directed towards digital track selection, asperformed at step 540. This may involve, for example, passing a PID mapand language identifiers for the selected and default languages todigital component selector 53 (FIG. 4) using the program guide (step545). Digital component selector 53 may determine which tracks aredesirable based on the PID map and the language identifiers, and mayselect the desirable tracks at step 547. Selecting desirable tracks mayinvolve, for example, passing PIDs to packet filter 55 which, in turn,filters out undesirable packets. The contents of the selected digitaltracks are played by user television equipment 22 at step 560.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of illustrative steps involved in coordinatingthe language in which program guide display screen text is displayedwith languages available for television programming when the televisionprogramming is broadcasted. Initially, the program guide may provide theuser with an opportunity to select a language. This opportunity may beprovided to the user by the program guide at steps 400-415. At step 417,the program guide may select an alternate language based on the primarylanguage. At step 420, the program guide may store language attributesfor the selected and default languages. Steps 400-420 were discussedwith respect to FIG. 13 and for brevity will not be re-explained here.

Coordinating display screen text with available languages may involveany suitable scheme for providing display screen text in one or morelanguages (step 603). Main facility 12 may only provide program guidedisplay screen text in languages in which audio is available forprograms (step 605). For example, main facility 12 may only provideprogram listings in the languages in which their associated programshave audio. Alternatively, distribution equipment 21 or program guideserver 25 of television distribution facility 16 may only store programguide display screen text in languages available for programs (step607). In still another approach, user television equipment 22 may onlystore program guide display screen text in languages available forprograms (step 609).

At step 600, the program guide provides the user with an opportunity toaccess a program guide function. This may involve, for example,displaying. main menu screen 100 of FIG. 5 and providing the user withthe opportunity to select one of selectable features 106 (FIG. 5). Oncethe user indicates a desire to access a particular function (by, forexample, selecting a feature 106), the program guide determines ifproviding the function to the user involves displaying program guidedisplay screen text that is related to a television program (step 610).This may be accomplished, for example, by programming the program guideto recognize that certain fields in which program guide data text isdisplayed involve displaying television program related information,such as by examining an attribute associated with each field. Televisionprogram related information may include, for example, program listinginformation, additional program information, music information,pay-per-view ordering information, or any other information related tobasic, premium, pay-per-view, music, or other types of programs. If theprogram guide function does not involve displaying program guide displayscreen text that is related to a television program, the program guidemay display the program guide display screen text in the selectedlanguage at step 620. If program guide display screen text is notavailable in the selected language, then the program guide may displaythe text, for example, in accordance with the illustrative hierarchyshown in FIG. 13.

If the program guide determines at step 610 that the program guidefunction does involve displaying program guide display screen text thatis related to a television program, the program guide may then determineif a selected (primary or alternate) language is a language that isassociated with the television program; that is, the program guidedetermines if the selected language is one of the languages that theaudio, data, or other information for a television program will bebroadcasted in. This may be accomplished, for example, by examining atrack map database that is provided as part of the program guide datastream (e.g., a SAP track map database, a PID map database, etc.).

How the program guide determines whether a television program will bebroadcasted with audio, data, or other information in a selectedlanguage may depend on how the track map database is structured. If, forexample, the track map database associates available languages withchannel numbers, the program guide may cross-reference the channelnumber for the television program as indicated in the program guide datastream with the channel numbers in the track map database.Alternatively, if the track map database associates available languageswith individual programs, the program guide may cross-reference theprogram name (or other program identifier) with the program names (oridentifiers) in the track map database.

A particular program guide function may include displaying program guidedisplay screen text that relates to a number of television programs.Providing the user with program listings information, such as isdisplayed in program listings screens 130 and 135 of FIGS. 6 a and 6 b,is an example of such a function. When generating screens 130 or 135,for example, the program guide may perform step 615 for each listing anddetermine that each listing 150 is a field in which program guidedisplay screen text is displayed that relates to a television program.The program guide may determine if each program that is associated witheach listing 150 will be broadcasted with audio, data, or otherinformation in the selected language by, for example, cross referencingeach listing with the contents of the track map database.

If the program guide determines that a television program will bebroadcasted with audio, data, or other information in a selectedlanguage, the program guide may display the program guide display screentext that is related to that television program in the selectedlanguage, as indicated by step 620. If, however, the program guidedetermines that the television program will not be broadcasted withaudio, data, or other information in one of the selected languages, theprogram guide will display the program guide display screen text relatedto the television program in the default program language, or thedefault program guide language as indicated by step 625.

Steps 620 and 625 may be performed for each program guide display screendisplay element such as, for example, each listing 150 of programlistings screens 130 and 135 of FIGS. 6 a and 6 b. It should be furthernoted that displaying program guide display screen text in the selectedor the default languages may require first readying the program guidedisplay screen text, as discussed with respect to FIG. 13.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this inventionand various modifications can be made by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

1. A method implemented at a set top box for enabling access to mediaprograms with content distributed by a server in multiple languages, themethod comprising: receiving a first user input to select a language forinteracting with the set top box; receiving program guide dataassociated with the language selected by the user; sending the programguide data associated with the language selected by the user to adisplay; receiving a second user input to select a program for receivingfrom the server, wherein the program has a plurality of associatedtracks having content in at least two different languages, wherein eachtrack is associated with a single language, and wherein the first andthe second selection opportunities are separate selection opportunities;receiving from the server a transmission including the selected program;and in response to the second selection opportunity, sending only atrack associated with the language selected by the first user input tothe display.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user inputoccurs before the second user input.
 3. The method of claim 1 comprisingstoring the language selected by the user in a memory of the set topbox.
 4. The method of claim 1 comprising storing the language selectedby the user in a memory of the server.
 5. The method of claim 1, whereinthe program guide data is associated with program guide text that isdisplayed via the display in the language selected by the user.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the server is a television distributionfacility.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the program is avideo-on-demand program with a plurality of associated tracks havingcontent in at least two different languages.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein tracks in languages other than the language selected by the userare not received from the server.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereintracks in languages other than the language selected by the user havebeen removed prior to transmission to the display.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving a third user input to select analternate language associated with the selected program wherein thereceiving from the server of a transmission comprises receiving from theserver a transmission including a track associated with the selectedprogram having content in the alternate language, but not in thelanguage selected by the first user input; and sending the trackassociated with the alternate language of the selected program to thedisplay.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the display includes atelevision display.
 12. The method of claim 1 comprising communicatingto the server the language selected by the user.
 13. The method of claim1 comprising receiving program guide data associated with a plurality oflanguages.
 14. A set top box device for enabling access to mediaprograms with content distributed by a server in multiple languagescomprising: a user interface for i) receiving a first user input toselect a language for interacting with the set top box and ii) receivinga second user input to select a program for receiving from the server,wherein the program has a plurality of associated tracks having contentin at least two different languages, wherein each track is associatedwith a single language, and wherein the first and the second selectionopportunities are separate selection opportunities; a first datainterface for i) receiving program guide data associated with thelanguage selected by the user and ii) receiving from the server atransmission including the selected program; and a second data interfacefor i) sending the program guide data associated with the languageselected by the user to a display and ii) in response to the secondselection opportunity, sending only a track associated with the languageselected by the first user input to the display.
 15. The device of claim14, wherein the first user input occurs before the second user input.16. The device of claim 14 comprising a memory, wherein the languageselected by the user is stored in the memory.
 17. The device of claim14, wherein the language selected by the user is stored in a memory ofthe server.
 18. The device of claim 14, wherein the program guide datais associated with display screen text that is displayed via the displayin the language selected by the user.
 19. The device of claim 14,wherein the server is a television distribution facility.
 20. The deviceof claim 14, wherein the program is a video-on-demand program with aplurality of associated tracks having content in at least two differentlanguages.
 21. The device of claim 14, wherein the first data interfacedoes not receive tracks in languages other than the language selected bythe user.
 22. The device of claim 14, wherein tracks in languages otherthan the language selected by the user have been removed prior totransmission via the second data interface to the display.
 23. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the user interface receives a third userinput to select an alternate language associated with the selectedprogram wherein the first data interface receives from the server atransmission including a track associated with the selected programhaving content in the alternate language, but not in the languageselected by the first user input; and wherein the second data interfacesends the track associated with the alternate language of the selectedprogram to the display.
 24. The device of claim 14, wherein the displayincludes a television display.
 25. The device of claim 14, wherein thefirst data interface communicates to the server the language selected bythe user.
 26. The device of claim 14, wherein the first data interfacereceives program guide data associated with a plurality of languages.